Intrauterine catheter anchor



Jan. 20, 1970 w. M. KORTUM 3,490,456

INTRAUTERIN E CATHETER ANCHOR Filed April 14, 1967 IIVVE/VTOI? WILL/AMM. K01? TUM %2Zuw ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,490,456 INTRAUTERINECATHETER ANCHOR William M. Kortum, 180 Ely Road, Petaluma, Calif. 94952Filed Apr. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 630,906 Int. Cl. A61m 25/02; A61f /46 US.Cl. 128-348 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relatesto intrauterine devices, and more particularly to a flexible duplexspiral coil mechanism for retaining one end of a catheter inside theuterus of an animal for purposes of artificial insemination, drainage orapplying medicament periodically.

The present invention provides an intrauterine device for retaining anend of a catheter inside the uterus of an animal so medicament or otherfluids may be injected periodically, such device having two similarlyshaped resilient spiral coils, which when the device is released from aninserting tool inside the uterus, become intertwined to provide ananchor element having a three dimensional form to normally avoid theexpulsion thereof by the animal.

An object of the present invention is to provide an intra-uterine deviceof the kind characterized which embodies similarly shaped resilientspiral coils extending in opposite directions in a common plane from acentral member to which an end of a catheter is secured, the inner freeends of the spiral coil being connected one to another when the deviceis loaded into an end of a tubular inserting tool, and such spiral coilsbeing adapted to automatically assume an intertwined relationship whenthe device is released from the inserting tool inside the animalsuterus, thereby providing a three dimensional anchor element for an endof the catheter to normally avoid the expulsion thereof by the animal,whereby the unattached end of the catheter may extend externally tofacilitate the injection periodically of medicament or other fluids.

Other and further objects of my invention will be indi cated in theappended claims or will be obvious to one skilled in the art upon anunderstanding of the present disclosure. For the purpose of thisapplication, I have elected to show herein certain forms and details ofa device for retaining an end of a catheter or flexible tube inside theuterus of an animal which is representative of my invention; it is to beunderstood, however, that the embodiment of my invention herein shownand described is for purposes of illustration only and that therefore,it is not to be regarded as exhaustive of the variations of theinvention in the art.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view of an animals uterus showing theintrauterine device of the present invention positioned therein with oneend of a catheter connected thereto and the other end extendingexternally through the cervical canal;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the intrauterine device;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinaI sectional view of the forward end portion of aninserting tool, showing the intrauterine device loaded therein,preparatory to its being inserted into the uterus of an animal; and

FIG. 4 is a detailed sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing thearrangement for connecting the catheter to the intrauterine device.

The intrauterine device embodying the present invention comprises acentrally disposed shank 10 and a pair of similarly shaped spiral coils11 and 12 extending outwardly in opposite directions from the upper endof the shank. The shank 10 is formed with an opening 10a to receive anend of a catheter or tube 13 having an enlarged end as at 13a of greaterwidth than the diameter of such opening to prevent the detachment of thecatheter from the shank. The coils 11 and 12 are integral with the shank10 and are formed from a resilient inert substance such as polyethyleneplastic material, and while the coils are normally positioned in acommon plane, each may be lengthened into an elongated substantiallystraight strand by the application of suitable pressures. One of thecoils at the free end thereof, say coil 11, is formed with a small loopor eye 14 to receive the free end 15 of the other coil 12 to connectsuch free ends together preparatory to the loading of the device into anend of an inserting tool 16. The tool 16 comprises an outersubstantially rigid tube 17 and an inner tubular plunger 18 whichslidably fits within the outer tube. The intrauterine device may beloaded into the forward end of the outer tube 17 by first extending thecatheter 13 rearwardly through the openings in the outer tube and theplunger 18 and then pulling the device rearwardly by means of thecatheter until such device is loaded into the forward end portion of theouter tube, as shown in FIG. 3. The size of the outer tube is such thatcoils 11 and 12 are contacted by the forward end of such tube and arethereby straightened somewhat as the device is pulled rearwardly. Theopening in the inner tubular plunger 18 is sufficiently large to receivethe catheter 13 but of smaller diameter than the width of the shank 10,thereby making it feasible to expel the intrauterine device from theouter tube 17 by manually projecting the plunger forwardly against theshank.

In placing the intrauterine device inside the cavity 19 of the uterus 20of an animal, the forward end portion of the outer tube 17 with the saiddevice loaded therein is inserted through the cervical canal .21 andinto the cavity. Upon projecting the plunger 18 forwardly theintrauterine device is expelled from the outer tube 17 of the insertingtool into the cavity 19 of the uterus. When the intrauterine device isloaded into the inserting tool suitable pressures are applied to thespiral coils 11 and 12 to temporarily deform them and change their shapeto elongated strands 11a and 12a, which byreason of their inherentresiliency, tend to resume their original shapes. Thus, when theintrauterine device is released from the inserting tool 16 anddischarged into the cavity 19 of the uterus, the strands 11a and 12abeing no longer confined within the outer tube 17 of the tool partiallyrevert to their original spiral forms, but being connected at their ends14 and 15, and thus being unable to assume such original forms, thestrands become intertwined to form a three dimensional intrauterinedevice 21 (FIG. 1) which will be retained in the uterus to securely holdan end of the catheter 13 in a position to permit the injection ofmedicament or other fluid into the uterus periodically through thecatheter. It is to be understood that the catheter is an elongated tubepreferably made from a suitable plastic material, such tube beingadapted to convey medicament or other fluids into the uterus and todrain fluids therefrom.

What I claim is:

1. An anchor to retain and end of a catheter inside an animals uterusmade from resilient plastic material comprising (A) a shank,

(B) spiral coils connected to and extending in opposite directions fromthe shank,

(C) means to connect and intertwine the free ends of the coils together;and

(D) means to connect an end of a catheter to the shank.

2. A device to retain an end of a catheter inside an animals uterusaccording to claim 1 wherein the shank is formed with an opening toreceive an end of the catheter.

3. An anchor for retaining an end of a catheter inside an animals uterusaccording to claim 1 wherein the spiral coils are'disposed in a commonplane, and wherein the connected and intertwined free ends of the spiralcoils are outside of said common plane to render the anchor threedimensional and to prevent self-expulsion thereof from the uterus.

4. An anchor to retain an end of a catheter inside an animals uteruswherein the means to connect ends of 4 the coils together made fromresilient plastic material comprising:

(A) a shank,

(B) spiral coils connected to and extending in opposite directions fromthe shank,

(C) means to connect and intertwine the free ends of the coils together;said means comprising an eye on an end of one of the spiral coils toreceive an end of the other coil; and

(D) means to connect an end of a catheter to the shank.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,348,728 8/ 1920 Martocci128-131 X 2,553,428 5/1951 Sokolik 128-13 1 2,896,614 7/1959 Schmitt eta1. 128-131 3,291,125 12/1966 Robinson 128-130 3,312,215 4/1967 Silber128-131 3,374,788 3/1968 Rosenthal 128-130 DALTON L. TRULUCK, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 128-130

